As the Government takes its town hall meetings islandwide, the residents of Portmore must be wondering how sincere is the administration about the process of local government.

To my mind, if Government was sincere, the current situation, as now exists since the March local government elections, would have been sorted out or, at the very least, explained to residents. There is no set timetable as to when corrective actions will be taken. When residents seek answers, the body language of public officials leaves much to be desired.

All of this is very ironic when you consider that the municipality was declared so by the then local government minister, now prime minister, Portia Simpson Miller. In fact, if our current mayor can be called the 'Father of Portmore', the current prime minister is the 'Mother'.

This month is being celebrated as Local Government and Community Month but, for the residents of the Portmore Pines and Greater Portmore North parish council division, this will mean very little, as we are still without representation at the municipal level.

One gets the feeling that this Government is buying time and is doing so by abusing the mandate given it by the electorate of the municipality. The imbalance in the Portmore Municipal Council should not be taken that all is well. All is not, and the residents of the affected parish council division must be properly represented if this Government is to be taken seriously.

LOW VOTER TURNOUT

As the long as the situation continues, the losers will not only be the unrepresented divisions but the entire political process. In the March 26 local government elections, voter turnout was very low, which suggests that a lot of residents are fed up with a political system that does not seem to offer much.

For those of us who took the time to participate in the electoral process, it was shocking to learn that our votes would place us not within Portmore but in Spanish Town. As the current mayor states whenever given the chance, "It is untenable and unacceptable."

The Portmore Municipal Council is hurting, the citizens of the municipality are hurting.

I appeal to the minister of local government and community development, Noel Arscott, the residents of Portmore need representation in the municipal council.